PBS News Hour - Full Show - December 13, 2025 – PBS News Weekend full episode

Episode Date: December 13, 2025

Saturday on PBS News Weekend, Trump vows retaliation for the killing of two U.S. soldiers and an American civilian interpreter in Syria. Humanitarian conditions in Gaza remain dire months after Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire. How tariffs on China are making this holiday season less merry for shoppers. Plus, Beverly and Dereck Joubert on their 40 years capturing images of Africa’s wildlife. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

Tonight on PBS News Weekend, President Trump vows retaliation for the killing of two U.S. soldiers and an American civilian interpreter ambushed in Syria. Then how tariffs on China are making this holiday season less merry for some shoppers, and a conversation with Beverly and Derek Joubert about their 40 years captured dazzling images of Africa's wildlife. always an image. I'm still chasing. I don't quite know what it is because I need to be open, but the images definitely need to be preserving and protecting wildlife in Africa. Good evening. I'm John Yang. President Trump is vowing to avenge the deaths of two U.S. soldiers and an American civilian interpreter in Syria. And U.S. officials tell PBS news, the shooter had ties to ISIS and had infiltrated Syrian security forces. The Pentagon said

the two soldiers, members of the Iowa National Guard, and the interpreter were ambushed by a lone gunman in the historic city of Palmyra, about 130 miles northeast of Damascus. They were taking part in ongoing counterterrorism missions. The gunman was killed, and according to the U.S. official, he was already under investigation for his ties to ISIS. Mr. Trump paid tribute to the three as he left the White House this afternoon for the Army-Navy football game. We mourn the loss. These are great, three great people. And it's just a terrible thing.

We will retaliate. Thank you very much. In 2019, during his first term, President Trump said ISIS and Syria had been defeated. The U.S. kept about 2,000 troops in eastern Syria to clamp down on sleeper's. cells. Belarus freed more than 100 prisoners after the United States said it would lift sanctions on the close ally of Russia. Among those pardoned by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko were two opposition leaders and Alice Bialyotsky, who shared the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize. Earlier, U.S. Special Envoy John Cole said the United States would lift sanctions on pot-ash

fertilizer, one of the nation's most important exports. Cole said improving U.S. Belarusian relations could lead to more prisoner releases. President Lukashenko, who should get a tremendous amount of credit for this, I think that he is moving. He wants a more normalized relationship with the United States and the West, so we're moving in that direction. Lukashenko is an authoritarian leader known for dealing harshly with dissidents. Western nations have sanctioned Belarus for cracking down on human rights and for letting

Russia use its territory to invade Ukraine. And in Ukraine, an overnight barrage of Russian drone and missile attacks across the nation left more than a million people without power in the harsh winter cold. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said more than 450 Russian drone strikes and 30 missiles hit five regions of the nation. At least two people were killed. The assault came as Germany host U.S. and Ukrainian officials to discuss President Trump's peace proposal ahead of Monday's summit with European allies. Comedy legend Dick Van Dyke is celebrating his 100th birthday today. Beginning of the 1960s, Van Dyke starred in television seminal sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show.

On Broadway, winning a Tony Award for his performance in Bye Bye Birdie and in movies, including the Disney classic Mary Poppins, where he was alongside Julie Andrews. Last year, Van Dyke became the oldest daytime Emmy winner for a guest role on a soap opera. In Gaza, Israel says it's killed atop Hamas commanders, said to be one of the last living architects of the October 7th attacks. Gaza health authorities said the strike killed four people and wounded at least 25 others. More than two months after the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, humanitarian conditions in Gaza remain dire. The UN estimates that one and a half million people lack shelter. Ali Rogan spoke with Jonathan Cricks of UNICEF from southern Gaza. Jonathan, thank you so much for joining us.

Tell us about what the conditions are like on the ground right now. The conditions are catastrophic, I must say. I've been in many, many tents in the past two days, and the tents are completely flooded. I met with tens of children. They are closed, are wet. The mattresses in the tents are completely soaked. And those children, they are cold. are a huge issue when it comes to hygiene because of course with those heavy rains it's

bringing a lot of dirty water sewage water you have a big pile of rubbish which are being taken away by by the rains and we are very very concerned first of all to see children getting sick and I met many sick children and also children dying from hypothermia so so it's extremely concerning is really showing the scale of the vulnerability and the needs of these children. And in terms of the aid situation, the terms of the ceasefire agreement with Israel included a provision that 600 aid trucks would enter Gaza every day. We understand that there, that number is far short of that, but what is the situation there in terms of aid getting into the area? The situation is a bit complex. It's not black,

or white. First of all, since the ceasefire, UN agencies like UNICEF have been able to bring more aid inside the Gaza Strip. That's the fact. We have been able to distribute a quarter of a million of warm clothes to children. We have been able to distribute 600,000 blankets, 260,000 tarp, 7,010s. So we are able to do, I would say, a lot, but we need one million kits of warm clothes for children. We have one million children here in the Gaza Strip. And of course, we have brought one quarter of that. So the scale of the need, the huge, the immensity of the destruction, when you see that you have nearly one million people living in makeshift tents,

tents which are made with, you know, these kind of tarpaulins, just a plastic sheet on a piece of wood. So, of course, this is not made to withstand a storm like the one that we have seen in the past days. What is UNICEF calling for right now in terms of scaling up that aid? So we need to have more tents going in. We need to have more of all supplies. It's also important that we have all the entry points possible and all the routes possible to bring humanitarian aid inside the Gaza Strip. We also need things like caterpillars, you know, big machinery, heavy machines to remove the big piles of rubbles also of garbage and these kind of things. Because we have a huge issue when it comes to hygiene and sanitation here. We are now about two months into this ceasefire.

What would you say in terms of Palestinians' quality of life? And is it at the level that you thought it might be at this point? So the markets, you can see way more food on the markets, but many type of food are still very expensive. So the most vulnerable families are still struggling to get access to it. We are still treating thousands of children for, for malnutrition. You know, the situation is improving, but yesterday I was on one of those interle displaced

people camp, very much makeshift tense. And I met with a little girl. She's three years old. Her name is Bissan, and she was very, very cute, but at the same time, she was extremely cold and her sweatpants were extremely dirty and wet. And she was just like there playing and standing in the mud. And when you enter her tent, there is literally nothing. And then you have that tents where water is falling from all of it.

And, you know, this is just heartbreaking. This little girl, she should just have a proper shelter. She should be able to go to a kindergarten, play with toys, and not be in a situation like, is today. So the overall situation remains extremely dramatic. The ceasefire is precious. It's very important because it brought a little respite. But the living conditions remain extremely, extremely challenging for children. Jonathan Kriegs with UNICEF. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. Still to come on PBS News weekend. The effect tariffs on China are

having on prices for shoppers this holiday season. And the world famous couple who've devoted their lives to protecting Africa's wildlife. This is PBS News Weekend from the David M. Rubenstein studio at WETA in Washington, home of the PBS News Hour. Weeknights on PBS. This year, it may not be the Grinch who threatens to steal Christmas. It could be tariffs. By some estimates, almost 90 percent of Christmas decorations and artificial decorations. Christmas trees are made in China and subject to President Trump's tariffs. According to an analysis by a lending tree, if this year's tariffs were in place last year,

it would have increased consumer costs by $28 billion. That's about $130 per shopper. Nathan Gordon is president of Christmas Central and online retailer of seasonal products. Mr. Gordon, what effect are you seeing of the tariffs in your business? Well, first and foremost, we're seeing prices are up across the board, and our company is doing the best we can to mitigate those prices. But we're also seeing almost a tale of two different economies here, where the higher-end spenders and higher-end items are selling at their normal pace. And then we're seeing almost a drop in sales of the middle-tier products and seeing people shift to the lower-end products. You say you're trying to mitigate these higher prices or higher cost. What are you doing?

Well, over the past summer, we have found ways to be more efficient in our operations so we could pass those savings on to the consumer. And then ultimately, our company is trying to just absorb as much of them as we can. Now, some retailers had stockpiled inventory before inauguration day. Were you able to do that? We did about as much as we can, but we're not a big box. retailer. We are still a family-owned business, so we don't have as deep of pockets as the big box retailers to bring in that sheer amount of goods and have them sit for 9, 10, 11 months. You talked about sort of the two tiers of customers you're seeing. A lot of polls showing

people worried about affordability, worried about high prices. Are you seeing the effects of that? Absolutely. We're definitely seeing a decrease, like I said, in those middle tier items. For example, the 15-foot, 14-foot Christmas trees, which someone might put into a larger house or a new build, we're seeing those sell very rapidly this year. But those middle-tier items, they're just not buying like they used to. We're seeing the customers buying a lot of smaller trinkets. Now, you're called Christmas Central, but you do all holidays. How is this affecting your thinking about Valentine's Day and Easter? We have less product for those holidays this year.

You know, Christmas, we buy the Christmas items basically in December the year before Christmas. So that was all before inauguration. So we didn't plan on having these high tariffs. Our Valentine's Day, our summer, our other items are bought over the summer. So because those tariffs are in place and the uncertainty we have going forward, we decreased the amount we were buying of those other holiday items. Is the holiday spirit among your customers any different this year than it has been in the past? Well, you know, Christmas is a very happy time of year for everyone.

So, you know, people love decorating their homes, buying everything. And we're seeing a slowdown in that. So it's really troublesome to see that you're supposed to have a really happy time of year. People are being pinched and maybe can't decorate as much this year as they would in previous years. What advice do you have for shoppers who are out now trying to buy decorations for Christmas? Well, hopefully they're still in stock because I know from the big box retailers, they didn't stock as much this year. So if you're looking for a sale, I don't know how many of them are going to exist. So I would say, hurry up and buy it now before everything's sold out.

Nathan Gordon, president of Christmas Central. Thank you very much. Thank you for having me. For more than. In 40 years, Beverly and Derek Joubert have lived with, photographed, and filmed African wildlife. The images they captured are beautiful, savage, haunting, and mesmerizing. They bear witness not just to the majesty of life on the African continent, but also to the host of threats, many of the man-made, that confront both the animals and the wilderness. They have a new book entitled Wild Eye, A Life in Photographs.

It winnows down four decades of work to about 250 of the most powerful photos. Earlier, I spoke with the Joubert's, photographer and conservationist Beverly and filmmaker Derek. I asked them why they published a retrospective now. It's really important to be able to look back and see what life was for us then and for, you know, all the animals and where we are today. And, of course, we are losing at an alarming rate, everything from the cats to elephants and landscape. So we thought if we could bring a piece together that truly is celebrating these animals and hope that everybody will want to try and protect them.

I think that's true, you know, I think that it's a time now for us to all reflect on what was and then determine what's going to be. What are the threats that you see? Well, we've seen quite a lot of poaching threat. We've seen overhunting in a lot of places. It seems like Africa more and more is becoming this forgotten place. People are so involved in their lives in the rest of the world that the future of wildlife is off the agenda.

How did you decide, how did you pick which images went into the book? That was a challenge, I can tell you. Going through 40 years of photography, the image, really needed to tell a story. Some of the images are a little harder to look at, but they are telling a powerful story, and so that's how we selected. Not every image will go on a wall,

but they're important to be able to tell the story of Africa's wildlife. I also think that some of the storytelling that was chosen through these images. Spoke more about moments before the image was taken and what's going to happen after the image was taken. So these are not just snapshots in time. These are indicators or reflections of a story that's going on there,

and so draw the audience of the viewer in. Let's talk a little bit about that by looking at some of the pictures. First, there's a leopard in a bow-about tree. And in the book, in the caption, you've given this leopard a name. Do you often do that with the animals you photograph? When we're out there, you know, we'll spend two to three years with the animals that,

we're filming. So yes, we do if we get to know an animal. This particular leopard, we got to know very well because it was the mother to a little leopard that we stayed with for four years. And the little leopard we stayed with for four years is the front cover of the book, Wild Eye. And I think there are a couple of more functions of actually naming these things. We give them characters, or rather we reveal their characters. If it's just, you know, leopard, number F-125, there's no characterization there, but these are real personalities, and I think that we do them a disservice by not at least giving them a fair shot at win in your heart. But one of the importance about her up in that Beirab tree is that Beirab tree is more than

2,000 years old. So it's not only about protecting her as one of the cat species, but it's by protecting the land so you can protect everything else, all the biodiversity. and the fallen flora. The next photo is of a lion cub, and it really is sort of almost a star photo. You've got that rainbow perfectly placed behind this cub. Talk about that, about how you get the right image you want. Frame it, and also just that get from the right perspective.

It's always a challenge to get the right image. I mean, I take thousands of images that would never be perfect in my eyes or in Derek's eyes. But this particular one line was observing the rest of the pride. And so it meant that we could move around. And as we moved around with our vehicle, we could position the rainbow exactly behind this little one. Of course, there's some tension within this image because while the rainbow is perfectly positioned for Beverly's lens, it's not positioned perfectly for mine.

And so there's dialogue in the vehicle. Can you go forward about two feet? And I'm going, no, why would I do that? You're the filmmaker, Derek. Yeah, exactly. And so we've always got to, you know, weigh that up and balance that and our lives. Yeah.

Then the next photo is of lions and trees, and you say it's unusual to find lions and trees. It is. Some areas the lions have started adapting and going up trees, but the problem is they, not like a leopard, They can't go straight up a tree trunk. They can't lock their ankles like a leopard can.

So it's a challenge for them. So this was a beautiful reclining tree, so it's easy for them to get up. I've heard both of you say that you're big cat people. Talk about that. Well, Beverly has a wild side to her. No, when we came out of university, our very few. first assignment out there, even though we were researchers then, was studying lions. And so that got into our DNA, and we studied lions for 35 years.

Somewhere along the line, we found cameras, and we started photographing and filming them as well. And we just keep coming back, because that's where we feel most in balance, I guess. Yeah. And over a 60-year period, they've declined by 95 percent, and that's all the big cats. And so leopards have this beautiful skin. And we need to speak out for them, because everybody, you know, would like to acquire one of their skins.

And with so few left in Africa, we feel like we need to be their ambassadors. And of course, you don't just photograph big cats. You also photograph other animals that we've got these zebras. In the book, you say these zebras are actually going someplace. I mean, it's quite an unusual situation. So when the rains come, they go to one of the harshest places, which is a salt pan called the Makadikadi salt pan. And they're going there because they need minerals.

So as the rains come and all the pans fill up, they go there, they spend a couple of months there, they build their bodies with all the minerals, and then they come back. So they are migrating in that image. And I think an image like this is exactly what I was talking about earlier on, John. It talks about who, so these zebras are in the what, and in what landscape. So those stalks of the reeds in their perfect habitat for them because it matches and speaks to architecturally what a zebra is.

And then what next? Why would they be wading through the water to go to water? And I think the best photographs end with a question mark. Not just the beauty, but also some of the violence of life in Illinois. Africa, a photograph of a lion, a battle with an elephant. And then you also capture the kill. And you said that this kill took days because the elephant is so large. I mean, I find this image difficult to look at, but what was it to watch that, to be there while that was going on? So the first image, that is a female cow. And that's a female cow. And that's a

That happened at two in the morning, so that is a challenge, you know, on its own. I remember shouting out to Derek here to wake up and start filming, and I started, you know, taking the photographs. And she was about 21 years old, nine lines in the Pride, and it was opportunistic. They, we were the first to ever capture lines trying to bring down an elephant. And this particular image was a story of hope for us, Because she fought for her life for at least a half an hour, and she did get away. So these two images together play light and dark. They play hope and desperation and despair.

And so the female that Beverly is talking about did actually get up and run off. She had a will to live. And this older bull in this image gave up up. And that was a long grueling couple of days for us to sit and film and photograph through. But the way that we get through that is we fortify ourselves with the knowledge that we didn't play a role in this. We're silent observers within this. And this is going on up and down through Africa behind us, one way the other. We can't intervene.

We can't interfere. We can't change that destiny for these animals. But what we can do is use our tools, our cameras to bring that to audiences. So there's a better understanding of the facets and nuances of nature. Otherwise, we go down a self-generating sense that everything out there is Disneyland. And I think it's good for people to know that there's a harsh side to Africa as well. You've been at this 40 years, hundreds of photographs in this book. Is there an image you're still chasing, an image you want to capture that you haven't yet?

There's always an image I'm still chasing. I don't quite know what it is because I need to be open to, you know, whatever comes our way. But the images definitely need to be preserving and protecting wildlife in Africa. And I think that's the journey, isn't it? It's not necessarily caring about where you're going to end up, but being open to the steps along the journey as they present themselves to you. Yeah.

Derek and Beverly Jouberra, thank you very much. Just amazing pictures. Thank you very, very much. Thank you, John. Really appreciate it. And that is PBS News Weekend for this Saturday. I'm John Yang for all of my colleagues. Thanks for joining us.

See you tomorrow.